The agreement comes after a nearly year-long battle which started when Schweich subpoenaed the state’s Division of Finance to determine whether bank regulators were doing their jobs properly. The division eventually agreed to allow some records to be examined, but the Bankers Association objected and filed suit, citing privacy concerns for their clients. Schweich says they’ve now resolved their differences.

“We will protect very, very carefully the information about individual banks and their depositors," Schweich said. "We don’t even really need to know the name of the bank we’re looking at or the particular account we’re looking at…all we’re trying to determine is if the Division of Finance is doing its job.”

Schweich also says the agreement includes support for potential legislation in the General Assembly that would insure his office has the right to review banking records.

The proposed bill is, in part, the result of an ongoing legal battle with the Missouri Banker’s Association. Schweich says the MBA is seeking to block his office from examining how the Finance Division examined the records of a number of failed banks in Missouri.

The Missouri auditor and the state's Division of Finance have an agreement about access to records.

Auditor Tom Schweich had subpoenaed records from the Finance Division, saying he needs access to the documents to determine if bank regulators are doing their jobs properly. The Division of Finance responded that it was barred by law from complying and that workers could be dismissed or prosecuted for releasing documents.

Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich says he’s issuing a subpoena to the Finance Division of the State Department of Insurance, in order to force them to release records on banks, savings and loans, and other financial institutions across the state.

Finance Division officials have so far refused to release documents on their reviews of financial institutions, saying that state law bars them from doing so. But Schweich says the records are needed to see if banking regulators are doing their jobs properly.